Spellcaster series #4: The Virtuoso

Invisibility

HEIDI

"Tell me what happened."

Tristan's face was solemn, eyeing the deep scar on my arm. Johnny's face was bleak as he handed me a bandage from the first-aid kit but Tristan waved him off and stepped towards me.

"May I?" He asked, hovering his hands above the wound.

I nodded and he channeled his energy to heal. His ruby eyes flickered from the wound to me. He was waiting for an answer.

"There were two of them," I began, "a couple of dark Vampires who pretended to be customers. One of them strangled me with a plastic cable but I managed to kill him first before breaking the other's neck. I buried them on the other side of the fence at the back alley."

"Did you decapitate before you buried them?" He asked.

My wound was closed over. Tristan did not move away even after it did. He looked squarely in my eyes.

"With an axe," I replied, slightly annoyed. "I know what I'm doing, Tristan."

He turned around and walked to the shelf where the dark Vampires were before they attacked me earlier. He went through the records on the shelves.

"I'm sure you do, Heidi, I'm just being cautious." Tristan flipped through the records mindlessly and pulled one out. "Johnny, leave us alone for a minute."

Johnny obeyed silently and headed into the back room. He flashed a quick smile at me before closing the door. I whirled around to Tristan who was peering at him from the Blink-182 self-titled record album.

I shook my head. "Are you paranoid, or something? Ever since—"

"Settle down, Heidi," he slotted the record back into its place. "I just need to speak to you privately."

I sighed. "You're really intense, you know. Johnny's a good guy."

He shrugged, lips forming a crooked smile. "He scares easily."

I rolled my eyes. Then he closed the distance between us and lowered his voice. There was something about the closeness that I did not waiver or flinch. I let him invade my personal space—maybe I was used to it.

"There are rumours of Dean Ryans' return."

I blinked. "What? How?"

"We're not sure," he glanced at the glass doors behind him.

Townsfolk walked past the store, completely unaware of the imminent danger or even about the attack from earlier on. The glass doors acted like a separation of our world from theirs, meandering their way through life with normal hardship and success. Somehow I envied them. What if my life was like theirs—only having to worry about birthday parties and weddings, or when I would retire, further down my planned future? No djinns, no Dean Ryans, no Synto. These sudden thoughts swirled in my head as I shifted my attention to Tristan in his red coat and the ruby on his cuff. What if life was different and we met, just a couple of regular townsfolk? What I would give to trade my life for something simpler.

But my future was planned—I just didn't know what I would expect except that I probably wouldn't survive it.

"I need you to be very careful tonight," Tristan said, cutting me out of my thoughts. "I'll be attending a town charity auction at Lady Bernadette's villa. It's not too far from here."

I swallowed my throat. Tristan noticed my nerves.

"Heidi," he spoke in his velvety voice, "there is no need to be afraid. This is unlike you."